Successes, challenges, and opportunities in providing evidence-based teletherapy to children who have experienced trauma as a response to Covid-19: A national survey of clinicians

Amy J L Baker; Melinda Konigsberg; Elissa Brown; Kevin Lee Adkins

doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.106819

Successes, challenges, and opportunities in providing evidence-based teletherapy to children who have experienced trauma as a response to Covid-19: A national survey of clinicians

Child Youth Serv Rev. 2023 Mar:146:106819. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.106819. Epub 2023 Jan 24.

Authors

Amy J L Baker¹, Melinda Konigsberg², Elissa Brown³, Kevin Lee Adkins¹

Affiliations

¹ Vincent J. Fontana Center for Child Protection of the New York Foundling, 590 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY 10011, United States.
² Little Flower Children and Families Services of New York, 630 Flushing Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, United States.
³ St. John's University, 8000 Utopia Parkway, Jamaica, NY 11349, United States.

Abstract

While teletherapy is not a new phenomenon, most clinicians have not been trained and do not routinely practice it. The current study was designed to ascertain challenges and opportunities presented by the widescale usage of teletherapy especially for traumatized children, which was necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Two hundred and fifty clinicians across the United States providing teletherapy to traumatized children completed an online survey. Results revealed that many logistical aspects of treatment were perceived to be easier when implemented remotely. Some clinical aspects of care were also perceived to be easier, notably engagement with caregivers. Developing rapport, assessing emotions, and keeping children's attention, however, were perceived as more challenging. Child characteristics such as age, attention span, and screen fatigue were viewed as creating challenges. Most clinicians had not received training in relevant topics for teletherapy and were eager to receive such training. These results suggest many avenues for refining and fine-tuning remote mental health services especially for children.

Keywords: Foster care; TF-CBT; Teletherapy; Trauma treatment.